Fear / Release – Ellen Reid

Fear / Release is about reframing the familiar in a new light. The composition is built around a five-note phrase that is echoed and developed in both melodic and textural ways. To create a sense of hyper resonance and spatialization, no note is struck by itself; each hit is doubled by another player on a different but similar instrument. Fear / Release was commissioned by the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet to be recorded for Sono Luminus in surround sound.

Third Construction – John Cage

Third Construction was composed in 1941 and dedicated to Xenia Kashevaroff-Cage, to whom Cage was married at the time and who played in his percussion orchestra. Third Construction is scored for four percussionists. The rhythmic structure of this work is 24 times 24 measures. In each part, the phrase structure follows a different proportion series, each being a rotation of the other, i.e. player 4: [8, 2, 4, 5, 3, 2], player 1: [2, 8, 2, 4, 5, 3], player 3: [3, 2, 8, 2, 4, 5] and player 2: [5, 3, 2, 8, 2, 4]. The instruments used are rattles, drums, tin cans, claves, cowbells, lion’s roar, cymbal, ratchet, teponaxtle, quijades, cricket caller, and conch shell.

Omphalo Centric Lecture – Nigel Westlake

Omphalo Centric Lecture (1984) Nigel Westlake The title of the work comes from a painting by Paul Klee – the direct & centered simplicity of which was an inspiration to me during the writing of this piece. The piece also owes much to African Balofon (or xylophone) music, with its persistent ostinati, cross – rhythms & variations on simple melodic fragments. Like African music it seeks to celebrate life through rhythm, energy & movement. It was originally composed for the Sydney based percussion quartet Synergy. It has been re-arranged from its original four-marimba configuration for 2 shared marimbas, log drums, shaker & splash cymbal in a new 2007 edition, edited by Michael Askill (Artistic director Synergy) & called the Synergy version, and has since undergone further arrangement by Sandbox Percussion.

— Nigel Westlake

Refractions – Anthony Pateras

Refractions (2008)
, for percussion sextet incorporates some of the spatial ensemble techniques of Transmutations, but explores the amorphous sonic capabilities of percussion sextet more deeply. Written in one continuous movement, it is flavored with some of Pateras’ more recent interests in music from Ethiopia and Burundi, combined with Helmut Lachenmann’s concept of acoustic musique concréte. A supersonic close to an unforgettable concert.

Premiered by Speak Percussion in 2009, the work utilizes a wide variety of percussion instruments, from bass drums, gongs and snares to glass bottles, keys and wine glasses. Refractions has a real emphasis on texture, ranging from harsh and brutal to moments of delicate beauty. The arrangement of sound for the acoustic ensemble is akin to experiments in electronic music. Very fast motifs fuse sounds together to form complex timbres and Pateras’ manipulation of the orchestration takes on, in parts, an almost granular character.

The ensemble is laid out in a semi-circle, with identical instruments arranged opposite one another. This allows for acoustic manipulations of the stereo field of perception, with sounds appearing to transition from one side of the ensemble to the other, through the use of slight delays and subtle pitch relationships. The subtleties of these sound movements, always moves between various states of solid sound mass via moments of sonic fluidity.